CubeCab wins 2014 Lightning Pitch Competition and $20,000 Grand Prize

Cubecab has won first place and $20,000 in the 2014 NewSpace Lightning Pitch Competition! The award was presented on Thursday by competition Project Manager, Tom Olson and by Jim Armor, VP, Strategy and Business Development, representing ATK, a long-time NewSpace BPC sponsor.

“As a company delivering innovation every day, ATK proudly supports the NewSpace Business Competition as a launch pad for inventive technologies from both new and experienced space industry professionals,” said Jim Armor, VP, Strategy and Business Development, ATK Space Systems Division. “The well crafted business case that each finalist presented also showcased the ability to provide a return on investment for the products brought to market. I look forward to following their success in meeting the next Century’s space challenges.”

This years’ Lightning Pitch Competition was a novel format, somewhere between an “Elevator Pitch” Competition and a traditional Business Plan Competition. During the first day of the Foundation’s annual NewSpace Conference, the competitors each delivered a four minute presentation to an audience of space industry professionals, Silicon Valley investors and our Lightning Pitch judges. Later that evening, at a special reception sponsored by the Heinlein Prize Trust, the prizes, generously sponsored by ATKwere awarded.

Thanks to ATKand the Heinlein Prize Trustand all of our other sponsors and contributors for their generous support of our ongoing efforts to assist and showcase new startups and expanding firms who can demonstrate both the ability to provide a return on investment and the capacity to contribute to opening the space frontier. To learn more about our efforts to open the frontier through the power of free enterprise, please visit the NewSpace Business Plan Competition website.

The judges were very impressed with the caliber of this year’s entrants, and remarked on the fact that each successive competition the Foundation hosts attracts more worthy competitors. The judges encouraged all the finalists to continue to seek funding, as all of them presented viable business cases. The finalists presented their business plans pitches to an audience of over 200 investors, space industry professionals, entrepreneurs and students during the Space Frontier Foundations’ Annual NewSpace Conference.

The Space Frontier Foundation and judges would like to extend their heartiest thanks to ATK for its generosity in providing funding for these prizes. By supporting this competition, ATK is taking an important step towards helping to build a strong, cohesive and successful space industry with a focus on ingenuity and entrepreneurship.

Additional funding provided by the Heinlein Prize Trust helps the competition continue to grow and attract innovative competitors, and we thank them for their support. Special thanks go out to the Space Angels Network as well, who created a specialized fund this year to invest in a BPC team of their choice. Additionally, the Space Finance Group has generously offered free coaching services to the winners, in an effort to help catalyze their success.

The Space Frontier Foundation also sincerely thanks the judges, coaches, volunteers and sponsors who worked to make the 2014 Lightning Pitch Competition a success. Their contributions were truly invaluable.

About ATKATK is an aerospace, defense and commercial products company with operations in 22 states, Puerto Rico, and internationally. News and information can be found on the Internet at www.atk.com. on Facebook at www.facebook.com/atk or on Twitter @ATK.